Portable staging



W. T. VOSE.

PORTABLE STAGING.

Patented Apr. 27, 1897.

M f 4 f f NiTED STATES VILLIAM T. VOSE, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PORTABLE STAGING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 581,317, dated April 27', 189'7. Application filed July 16,1896. Serial No. 599,368. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom/ it' may concern.'

Be it known that I, "WILLIAM T. VOsE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Staging, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in portable staging and straightedges, and has for its object to provide a device of this description which may be readily applied to a building and adjusted to any position upon the elevation thereof or transferred to an angled roof, thereby greatly facilitating the operations of painting, weatherboarding, or shingling.

Considerable difficulty has heretofore been experienced in preparing for the shingling or other operations upon a building before any work could be performed in the direct lines intended, from the fact that it was necessary to erect temporary scaffolding orv staging, which often required as much expense and time as the intended operations upon the building', but this I have obviated by my improvement.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l repre` sents a portion of a building' having my improvement attached thereto preparatory to shingling; Fig. 2, an end view of my improvement when brought into position upon an angled roof Fig. 3, an enlarged view of one of the triangular frames for supporting the platform, showing the clamp mechanism in section; Fig. 4, a section through one of the clips, illustrating the method of attaching the straight-edge in position upon the roof.

Fig. 5 is a diagram of a slightly-modified form of staging.

In carrying out my invention I provide two triangular frames A, composed of metal rods, and arrange upon each of these frames the sliding collars B, to which are pivoted at O the supporting-bars D. 'Secured to the bars D in any convenient manner is the platform E, which is of sufiicient length to accomplish the work desired.

F is a collar which is readily'secured to the frame A near the vertex of one of its angles, and having pivoted therein a lever G, which terminates in a segmental clamp H, having serrations upon a portion of its perimeter, thel remainder thereof being smooth for the purpose hereinafter set forth. 1

In supporting the platform or scaffold suitable pulley-blocks I and J are provided, the former being attached to the frames by means of hooks and connected to the latter by the ropes K. One end of each of these ropes is attached to one of the blocks J, and the free end of each rope passes beneath one of the clamps H, so that when the scaffold is supported by these ropes it may be raised or lowered by the proper manipulation of said ropes and secured in any adjustment by the application of the serratedportion of the clamps thereto, said clamps acting after the manner of a cam, so that the greater the weight supported by the scaffold the tighter will be the hold of the clamps upon the ropes.

Should it become desirable to lower the scaffolding while one or more persons are standing thereon, it is only necessary to swing the levers F so as to bring the smooth portions of the clamps into contact with the free ends of the ropes, when said clamps will then act as brakes to regulate the speed with which the scaolding may descend, and this descent may be arrested at any time by reversing the levers, so as to bring the serrated portions of the clamps into contact with the ropes, as before described.

The blocks J may be attached to hooks L, by means of which they are connected to the ridge of the roof, or any other devices may be used for this purpose.

As shown in Fig. l, when the scaffold is to be used upon the face of a building it will stand horizontally and at right angles thereto, since the platform rests upon the base of the triangular frames, but when the scaifold is to be drawn upon the angled roof the triangular f rames in passing upon said roof will assume the positon shown in Fig. 2, and this changing of position of the frames Will-cause the collars B to slide upon the rods, and when this sliding movement is arrested by the adj ustable collars M the scaffold will assume the position shown in the last-named ligure,so that it will be seen that the angle which the platform assumes to the surface of the roof may be altered by the adjustment of the collars M, and the latter are held in any adjustment by the set-screws N. By this arrangement IOO a single person may so manipulate this scaffold as to bring it into position for operation upon the sides of a building, or may draw it upon a roof by first drawing upon one of the ropes and then the other, so that the operations of shingling said roof will be greatly facilitated, as the scaffolding can be gradually elevated as the operations of shingling proceed.

The second feature of my invention consists in a straight-edge adapted to be laid upon the roof in order that the shingles to be laid may be placed in contact therewith, so as to determine their position, and this straightedge is held in place by two clips P, so arranged that their lower ends may be slid beneath the shingles previously secured upon the roof and there held by the action of the thumb-screw Q, which draws the members of the clips together, thereby binding the straight-edge to the shingles. Vhen this has been done, the shingles next to be secured in place may be laid with their lower edges bearing against the straight-edge, which will bring them in their proper relative position to the shingles previously laid, where they may be secured in the usual manner by naillng.

From this description it will be understood that all of the usual operations upon a building may be accomplished without the necessity of erecting stationary scaffolding, thus avoiding great annoyance and expense, as well as greatly facilitating the work.

The platform which I have just described is strengthened so as to resist downward strains, such as the weight of persons thereon, by the braces R, which run lengthwise thereof, but this same result may be accomplished as shown in the diagram in Fig. 5, which contemplates rnnning one or more wires S from each end of the platform upon the under side thereof and the placing of uprights T near the points where the wires are attached to the platform, thus forming a trestle by means of which great strength is gained with but little weight. rlhe brace-wires may be tightened by means of turnbuckles U in the well-known manner for the purpose of maintaining said platform in a plane.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful is-e l. A scaffolding consisting of two triangular frames, collars adapted to slide thereon, bars pivoted to said collars, a platform supported by said bars, braces secured on the lower side of said platform, as and for the purpose described.

2. In combination with the platform of a scaold, two triangular frames having collars adapted to slide thereon, and the bars D pivoted to said collars for supporting said platform, as shown and described.

3. A scaffolding consisting of two triangular frames, collars slidable on said frames, bars pivoted to said collars, a platform supported by said bars, braces secured on the lower side of the platform said braces consisting of wires running lengthwise of the platform, uprights near the points of attaching the wires, substantially as described.

4. A scaffolding consisting of two triangular frames, collars slidable on the base and one leg of the frame, bars pivoted to said collars, a platform supported by said bars, braces depending from the platform, a rope-clamp consisting of a collar slidable on the third side of the frame, a lever pivoted on said collar having a cam-surface on its inner end, blocks and tackle secured to the frames, the free end of the rope being secured in the ropeclamp, as and for the purpose described.

5. A scaffolding consisting of two triangular frames, collars slidable thereon, bars pivoted to said collars, a platform supported by said bars, blocks and tackle secured to the frames, the free end of the rope being secured in a rope-clamp `carried by the frames, substantially as shown and described.

6. A scaifolding consisting of two triangular frames, a platform pivoted to collars slidable on said frames, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto afiixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM T. VOSE.

V'Vitnesses:

S. S. WILLIAMSON, E. V. SYMoNDs. 

